Good Times Gonna Come
by the Chronic Meltdown
Summary: She could remember the four of them dancing in circles in the garden, could remember Fate’s eyes on her own, her voice as she sang to them, as they spun around in circles, hand in hand, growing dizzier with every step. -AU, Dark.NanoFate-


**A/N: **

Before you read this. Understand. It will be confusing. You will _not_ have any idea what's going on. But it _will_ be explained later on. Every mistake you may notice (that is not involved with spelling) has been done on purpose. I know what I'm doing. And this will be NanoFate. A very dark, very angsty, somewhat fluffy NanoFate. It also has AliciaHayate of the same category.

One of my favorite blondes will be battling this evil destiny that you do not yet fully understand. But you will. This, I promise you. So she'll be struggling, while Nanoha will try anything to stop her, which will make for a very dramatic and eventually fulfilling romace. And the title. Take it into account. It will happen. Look up the song, too. It's technically what this is based on. It's by Aqualung.

There will be mentions of several theories, such as the Butterfly Effect (which was the original title of this story), and the Chaos Theory. Or at least, they will be applied to this, in a way that is easier to understand than you think. I'll do my best to explain it well.

Also, this will contain some disturbing imagery, for some people. Just a minor warning.

* * *

**Good Times Gonna Come**

_"You came to me from nowhere,  
with nothing  
and no one...  
Hold tight, hold tight, hold tight,  
Goes to show  
you never really know  
It's all right, it's all right, it's all right..."  
_-Good Times Gonna Come, by Aqualung

**prologue**

The temple was crumbling all around her.

She threw herself down the steps past the altar, losing her footing when a column shattered on the floor a few feet behind her. Debris whizzed past her face as she fell, slicing open her cheek. Blood splattered all over the stone tiles, staining the underside of her fingertips.

There was a crazed pounding in her chest, a silent ringing in her ears – the smell of sulfur was prominent within the chamber. She could hear the town's bells ringing in the distance, along with the jaded, tired screaming of people about to give up. The world was ending.

The world was ending, and she was on her knees inside a temple as it collapsed around her.

She scrambled to her feet, stumbling as the trembling got worse. The earthquake was, as prophesized, never-ending. Her teeth rattled against each other as she ducked under a falling statue, as she made her way down to the door to the ante-chamber. The door to the room before the-

She wrenched it open and the moment she stepped through, the world froze upon its axis.

The ground stopped shaking.

In front of her, rows of columns floated in mid-air, unmoving. The pieces of an angel – expression of discordant mischief, shattered pieces of an apple in its broken hand, entirely symmetrical – held close together by an invisible force, a spray of debris waiting to be released. The roof was falling in – was frozen in place as it fell - and broken glass – smashed bits of crystal dust – floated all around her.

The floor seemed unstable. It appeared sunken in certain places, almost as though it had been starting to fall.

Everything.

Everything in chaos.

Everything unmoving.

Yet she was still conscious, could still hear the sudden, unnatural  
_(maddening)_  
silence. She could still breathe, feel, see.

She still _was_.

Even when behind her, the world lacked motion. Even when the path ahead of her was unclear. Even when she didn't know what had happened to her loved ones.

A sharp sense of desolation crept up her throat like molten lead, making her eyes water and her hands tremble.

"A priestess must not give into helplessness." She whispered, biting back a sob. Her voice broke, and echoed in the room, and she remembered so many things, so many occasions in which _that girl_ had been there to comfort her. She took a wavering step forward. "Nor is she allowed to contemplate resigning in the face of despair."

The old discourse spilled from her lips automatically.  
(_"Practice it." "But I don't know it. At all." "Don't worry." Laughter. "I'll help you." She had trusted them._)  
For every step, a word. For every sentence, a pause.

"Darkness will not touch a priestess. Fire will not harm her."

Her voice faltered.

"She represents strength in the face of adversity. Hope in the face of despair."

She was more than halfway there.

"I am a priestess. I am a light."

She stepped past the angel's statue. Its eyes bore into her back, scorching her skin. The air cackled with something akin to electricity, making the hairs on her arms stand on end.

"I will be as a diamond shield. I will defend."

Her hand closed around the doorknob.

"I will not fight."

She twisted it, and it swung open to reveal the dark.

And in an instant, there were voices in her head.

Thoughts in her head.

Thoughts from the head of another person.

An onslaught of furious whispers.

_NoletmegoI'mnothereI'mnotthisway- I –  
_can't  
_breatheinhereThere'siceeverywhereIdon'tunderstandIdon't  
_feel the way I  
_fail at this,Ifail,Ifail.  
_I_fail._

"_Alicia!"_

"_Fate-chan! Fate-chan! Don't let go! Don't let go of my hand!"_

"_Alicia, I can't! I can't!"_

"_Yes you can! Yes you can! Help me! Help me! Please, Fate! Please!"_

"_I can't!"_

"_Don't let me go! Don't let me- no, Fate! Fate! Fa-!"_

"I failed."

Something within her snapped at the sound of that voice. Initiated a hypnotic, schizophrenic bleeding in her brain-

Ahead of her, all she could see- all she could feel- hear- breathe-  
Was darkness.

"I failed, Nanoha." An agonized voice. Slow. Raspy. "Alicia isn't here anymore."

Her flesh was _burning_. Electricity ate away at her skin, gnawed at her chest. Her heart bled hatred. It soaked through her shirt. Made her eyes blink back tears. Made her grit her teeth.

She was so scared.

"Fear not, Nanoha-chan…" Her voice was gentle, soft, soothing.

She hated her for it.

"All will be revealed in time…"

It was like listening to her mother sing her a dangerous lullaby. Like feeling the devil's kiss upon the shell of her ear, tracing paths along her neck.

Along her neck. A demon.

Fate sounded like a demon.

"Today will end in fire…but tomorrow will commence in ice."

She had been so in love with her. So in love.

Tears dripped down her face, onto the floor.

She was a girl standing before a door leading nowhere. The door to the abyss.

If she went inside, she knew, she would never resurface.

_(She could remember the four of them dancing in circles in the garden, before everything had grown complicated. Could remember Alicia's smile, her gaze as it focused on Hayate, the happiness that had lurked beneath the surface when the girl had grabbed her hand._

She could remember Fate's eyes on her own, her voice as she sang to them, as they spun around in circles, hand in hand, growing dizzier with every step.

She could remember the feeling that she'd gotten that day, when they'd been fourteen.  
She could remember feeling trepidation. Dread.

And as she had looked into Fate's eyes, she could remember having felt one other thing.  
One other thing. One other thing.  
The only other thing.)

"Enter, so that I may say goodbye…"

Nanoha stepped forward, and was swallowed by darkness.

_("Ring around the rosy,  
A pocketful of posies,  
'Ashes, ashes'…_

_We all fall down.")_

**A/N: **

Reviews are food for my soul.

Oh, and, hah. To those of you who read No One's Future, but did not review it, stay tuned for the next chapter. It's long, and though somewhat angsty, it's mostly fluff and humor. My next update will happen after I update a story over at the Saki fandom. Which will be...soon, hopefully, but I have Christmas homework I haven't done yet, and it sucks. School starts on Monday, for me. D: Someone save me.


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